Saving Seekers
by Dendey
Summary: Thundercracker's hurt and brought to the Ark by Starscream, who demands that Ratchet shall fix him. Ironhide serves as a guard in med bay and that's when things turn interesting. Every seekers orn has to come around eventually though. Slash HideStarscream
1. sparking

Disclaimer: Sadly enough, none of them are mine...but once that changes I shall inform you immediately! XD

It was unusual for any decepticon to ask for aid or assistance, yet it became apparent that that was precisely what Starscream was doing by viciously demanding of Ratchet to repair his wingmate. Standing tall in the brig, he tried to tower over the medic while presuming to be able to order him around. But Ratchet had already made that decision on his own. The seeker was leaking octan rich fuel all over the place, not to even mention the coolant nor energon. Looking far worse for wear than regular Thundercracker really looked like he was on the brink of offlining.  
It was astounding, but both mechs had been taken prisoner, completely without any hint at opposition, yet Red Alert had decided that they would have to be contained and threw them into the brig anyway. Prowl hadn't been amused by the news one single bit and at gathering the information that one of the seekers had appeared to be damaged, he had instantly summoned Ratchet from the med bay to look him over. At first Starscream had been very compliant with answering all of their questions, apart from the obvious 'where'd he get hurt' or 'why are you coming to us for this' and now the air commander was apparently regaining his wits and suffering from a serious case of overconfidence, like he usually did...

"Of course I will repair him, but not because you're telling me to you slag-headed scrap-pile! He's damaged and in some serious need of repairs. I can not ignore that as a medic, not if I still want to call myself that with a clear conscious.", he informed Starscream coldly and motioned for Red Alert to release the lock that would lead him into the cell. Both decepticon seekers immediately huddled together into a corner, with the air commander shielding his injured wingmate with one of his own scratched wings. Ratchet knew that they wouldn't accuse him of trying to hurt Thundercracker, far from it, yet Starscream didn't appear as if he wanted to part from the other seeker no matter what. Inch by inch he advanced onto them and noticed that the air commanders wings had started trembling as he was only three more steps away from them.

"Starscream, please be reasonable, I can not repair him here. His damage is far too extensive for that, I need tools, my work bench and a lot of other things to help him, which I do not have here.", he calmly tried to reason with the seeker, all the while wary of Prowl hovering in his background. Who knew when Red Alert would call their behavior a fake or a trap? But the tactician would have warned him of that had there been any indication for it and so he pressed on.

"I won't leave him, we won't part!", the air commander insisted, shaking his cranial unit in denial all the while and just clinging tighter to the older seeker. It was then that the medic noticed that that was exactly what Starscream was doing, he was clinging to the other seeker as if afraid to loose him and for the first time ever he thought that he had just witnessed something akin to compassion within the decepticons ranks. A quick glance at their tactitian revealed that he had come to the same conclusion and was already calculating how they could accommodate the air commanders request without endangering their security, an autobots health or primus forbid...protocol.

"Under the observation of an officer as guard only.", was all Prowl would settle for and it was quickly decided that Ironhide would stand guard duty, while Ratchet worked.

Leading the air commander through the halls, one hand on his shoulder, directing him where to go, the other holding his favorite cannon trained steadily onto the small space between his wings, Ironhide cleared the way for Ratchet, who was carrying the hurt seeker to his med bay and walking right behind them.

It was disconcerting really, under regular circumstances Starscream would have protested and shaken the unwanted limb off of his chassis, yet strangely enough right then he couldn't mind it and even subtly leaned into the touch from time to time. Ironhide kept a firm grip on the seekers shoulder and only let go once they had reached the med bay and he took up his guard post at the big entrance door. As Ratchet set to work, not daring to put the seeker offline in fear of loosing him due to repair interrupted, yet essential recharge activities, Starscream paced the whole length of one wall up and down, steadily shooting looks at his wing mate while snarling at the medic to speed up.

Tempted as he was to just throw the mech out anyway, he didn't and proceeded to ignore the insults and baits of the air commander. Starscream became more and more restless and started whispering to himself occasionally.

„...hurry up...loosing time...won't make it...need to hurry...won't last...no more time...", he muttered, while he steadily kept up his pacing and finally it was just too much for Ironhide to bear. Yanking the seeker towards him on his wrist, he straightened up to his full height and growled at him.

„W'll ya slagg'n st'p 't! Ra'ch 's work'n 's fas' 's 'e cahn alrea'y! Theah ain' no ane fastah, soh st'p squiahmin'!", he bellowed and the seeker grew utterly still in his grasp.

Leaning forwards to meet his gaze head on, something Ironhide couldn't quite name flashed in the air commanders optics and his response came out quite differently from what he had planned.

„Make me!", he challenged in a purr, energy pouring from his frame and pulsing at the air around him.

A compliant fuzziness engulfed his processor as the energy washed over into Ironhide and he growled, bending the mechs wrist to have him step forward was all it took to be basking in the strange and new energy. Dermaplates started to dance over his, while nimble digits settled onto his sides. Releasing his tight grip on the seeker wasn't even a conscious action, he was barely aware of anything else but the seeker, unable to register the words shouted at him by the CMO.

„You won't stop them.", Thundercracker deadpanned as he gripped onto Ratchets arm to keep him from throwing a wrench at the red warrior, seeing as shouting obscenities at him had apparently no effect on either one of them at all.

„What do you mean with that?!", he demanded of the flyer and saw him scrunch up his faceplate in confused concentration.

„Maybe I should rewords that.-You will not be able to make them stop. No one will be able to keep them from each other now,- they wouldn't allow it. No amount of reason- or force will be able to part them now, mechs are usually offlined if they invade- with a seeker in such a state. They will merge- right in your med bay, you can't keep them from it. Just ignore- them, they wont even notice the difference.", he explained to the enraged medic, trying to keep his vocalizer steady, but it shortened out on him numerous times regardlessly.

Ratchet only stared at him and stopped cursing. Surprised he noted that it really didn't make a difference to the two intertwined mechs.

Starscream was endearingly sweet the way he leaned into him and arched into every little shift of pressure from his hands. Ironhide was lost in pleasure, blindly following along as the seeker lead him...somewhere. Urging the warrior to follow him, he moved him, walking backwards himself, steadily closer to a berth he had spotted there earlier.

Following the air commander didn't even register within him, all that was important was that the seeker actually stayed in his reach constantly, their dermaplates parting and meeting repeatedly, whether they just carressed the others plating, brought their glossas into play or simply rested against each other. But as Starscream parted and retracted his cockpit to bare his spark to him, a wild, forceful desire took hold of the warrior and he simply swiped the medical berth clean off any tools lying about with a single shoving motion. Bending the seeker over the edge of the berth, he felt him wriggling away, feet planted onto his thighs to lift him higher and he managed to slide onto the berths surface. Climbing up onto the berth as well, he didn't hesitate to subdue the air commander with his weight, at least somewhat. Trying to force him to keep still wasn't working, but it wasn't necessary to do so, because the astrosecond he started to split his own chestplates the seeker beneath him grew wild, straining against his grasp and pushing up to make their sparks meet. Worried that Starscream would force their sparks together far too soon, he locked his joints and found himself unable to move as tendrils of spark energy coursed through his circuitry and his spark casing opened out of it's own violition. Taking in the sight of the seeker lying underneath him, he caught the shifting motions, the air commander was supporting his frame with his lower arms, firmly planted onto the berth, as well as his feet, his knee joints now rising up against Ironhide's thigh plating. If he hadn't known what he did, he would have cried out in surprise as Starscream started to move in a very distinctive way. Human females moved like that when they intended to excite their mates, they rolled their hips to...what was it called again...to grind, yeah that was it! They rolled their hips to grind against their mates and the male humans held against the pressure. It was quite similar to Starscreams movements, he was bucking up against his frame to grind their spark casings against each other. As the decepticon opened his own spark casing, his head rolled to the side and a high pitched mewl left him as he ground himself against the autobot warrior, causing their sparks to brush against each other.

At the third brush of their sparks, energy burst out from the forcefields surrounding them and the pleasure of their actions increased tenfold. Ironhide had never even guessed that it could be possible to deny sparks to merge immediately, yet the seeker was showing him just that in great detail right now. At the ninth brush, deeper energy fields clashing and engines howling in response, a miniature spark formed at the end of an energy burst that arched away from their sparks, only to die out after glowing softly for a split-nano-second. The weapons specialist threw his head back, optics flashing almost white with pleasure and an inarticulate shout left him.

"Only eleven more.", the hurt seeker stated out of the blue and at Ratchets confused and still angry glare, he hastened to explain.

"Their sparks need to brush twenty times before Starscream can overload safely, otherwise his systems would be hurt by all the excess energy. It's only within the first twenty brushes that they can spark, if their sparks are even harmonic enough to open up to each other to let their cores meet, which is the only way to really create an independent spark. Any more spark brushes and flares would be used to sustain the just created spark, but that has never been a concern before. Starscream doesn't appear to be very compatible or compliant, Megatron certainly didn't ever manage to break through to his core, he wasn't amused by that...", his thoughts drifted off into dark times again, not noticing the mixture of revulsion and fascination on the medics faceplate, otherwise he would have probably laughed at him and the funny expression his faceplate was caught in. Both of Starscreams creators had been offlined during his first orn, trying to keep the tyrant away from him, seeing as they had dropped him into a life, serving the decepticon cause. They had still cared enough to at least try to protect their sparkling from the silver mech and it was all Thundercracker had ever given them credit for.

Yet, quite unexpectedly, as at the eighteenth time both glowing balls of energy and light met, their spark cores touched briefly and the little glowing ball of energy at the end of an offshooting flare began to absorb the light surrounding it and it started to swirl around itself. With every new joining brush of their spark flares, now more frequent and desperate as Starscream fervently bucked up against him, crying out as if in pain every time their sparks retreated from one another only to flare anew and meet again, more and more light and energy was gathered by the miniature spark, causing it to grow stronger and more vibrant. Emmitting a shrill scream the air commander latched onto the warrior, grabbing his upper arms in a stronghold and molding himself to his chest, almost unbearably tight. He began to shiver, clicking desperately while the weapons specialists whole frame was lightened up by energy crackles snapping over his chassis in wide arcs. Ironhide was utterly silent as he was caught in an overload-loop. The way Starscream was shaking, clicking, screaming and gasping alternatively, it was obvious that he was in pain, yet all his movements stopped abruptly and the warrior encased him into his arms so that he wouldn't fall. Lying him back down onto the berth gently, he lightly brushed the hard lines of pain from the seekers faceplate, tracing his dermaplates with one digit in awe of what his spark had revealed to him. Apparently the exertion had sent the seeker directly into recharge, judging by the low hum of his systems settling down into their subroutines.

"Usually he'd come to me in this condition,- if Megatron didn't catch him first. Yet at the moment- my spark doesn't have the energy to sustain- a merge.", Thundercracker explained ruefully to the medic and glanced over to the now peacefully recharging mech.


	2. explaining

And hello for another round of **insanity at the Ark!**

Thank you very much for reviewing dear twinny and dearest Prime! Caz...the masses shall bow down before you cuz this update is solely for you, fifth reviewer that you are XD

In addition to thanking both Solloby and Dancing Mouse, I'd like to adress the matter that has irked both of you about my story.

_**A/N:**_ Ironhide's accent as you read it here is actually the _tenth _installment of it.

No really, you can go and ask Xobit. We're doing multiple RP's together and she'll be able to assure you that the way I play or state Ironhides accent is an ever changing myth that's getting reborn with every new project. Toning down his accent to the suggested hints won't work on him, because it just makes him sound like Jazz in my head and that just really won't do for me. Sorry, but I want my Ironhide to be Ironhide and not someone else whom he is not, for Jazz is a quite different person than him. Yet for the purpose of easing your reading you may find that the next five chapters have rather short Ironhide vocalizations in them. I will try not to fry your brains starting from chapter six, seeing as the others are already written and I really see no point in rewriting them or putting an accent free translation behind the words. Sorry if this may appear arrogant to some of the people actually bothering to read this AuthorNote, but I really care for the authenticness of my characters and if I have to get them slightly OOC to act the way I want them to, then I usually have a reason for that. So skipping or changing Hide's accent just isn't an option.

-

"Don't blame him. He couldn't help himself. Seekers- can not ignore spark instinct. Don't blame him.", the blue seeker rasped out, his gaze fixed onto the red warrior unwaveringly until he saw him nod hesitantly. Thundercracker may not have liked the autobots, but he trusted them to keep to their word and so he briefly allowed his optics to stray to the still and silent form of his air commander. Starscreams faceplate was as relaxed as it could possibly become and he saw a look of innocence and vulnerability reflected in his features, which he hadn't seen there since his creators had been offlined, trying to protect him from exactly what he had just done. The big difference though was that Starscream had chosen the mech, at least subconsciously and it hadn't been Megatron, whom they had been hiding from in the mountains. Skywarp would probably be worried about them by now...he needed to contact him somehow. As his mental gaze returned to their trine head, he smiled tiredly, because for the first time ever it appeared as if the young and carefree seeker from back then had been returned to them. It didn't matter that he was in recharge and not expected to keep that expression, but it did irk him slightly that it had taken the autobot warrior to put it back where it had always belonged.

"I've never seen him this peaceful.", he betrayed to their audience, shortly before his optics switched offline as he was forced into recharge from the injuries caused to his body from the attacking constructicons that had tried to bring the air commander back to base at Megatrons orders.

Ironhide found himself reluctant to part with the seeker still gradually clinging to parts of his chassis. Looking down at him was like looking at a sparkling in need of comfort and it arose feelings in his spark he had fought valiantly to keep dormant throughout this war. One thing he was absolutely positive about, was that this had not been a normal merge. It had felt quite a lot different from any merge he had ever participated in and that was only partly because of the intense heat of the seekers spark and chassis or his at times fluid or erratic movements. No the one thing that made their merge so very different from all the others had been the feelings involved. Ironhide hadn't been left with much time to come up with a reaction, yet as he finally had reacted, he hadn't even tried to untangle himself from the air commander, but had only drawn the seeker closer, pressing into his chassis and sending all rational thought processes to the pit. As their merge had been initiated he had been overcome with pleasure and a desire, burning brightly like a bonfire, had taken a hold of him. It had been so intense that it had almost bordered on pain, but then utter bliss had taken him in as a long time resident and he had barely been able to contain his joy at feeling parts of himself passing away, only to be magnified tenfold, somehow copied and then given back with a feeling clinging onto them that gave him the creeps as much as it filled him with pride. What had happened there? Or rather what had it been that the seeker had made happen?

Suddenly Prowl, Red Alert, Jazz and even Optimus Prime rushed into the med bay and Ratchet greeted them as if nothing was amiss, yet the officers knew their medic well by now and so they could all discern the note of worry that had crept into his tone.

"What is going on?", Optimus questioned and Ratchet blinked his optics at him in uncertainty.

"I don't know anything for certain as of yet. I'll have to run a variable amount of tests and scans before I can tell you anything specific, but I have a suspicion I'd like to prove or rule out first thing after Starscream resurfaces from his recharge, if at all possible.", the medic told them, assessing and reassessing that all his tools were in order as he went through the explanation that really didn't give anything away. Ratchet was nervous. They all could tell by the way he moved and the way he ordered and polished his already impeccable equipment.

"Ra'ch wha' th'...", he trailed off as all optics in the med bay were focused onto him and more specifically at the seeker in his arms. Or was it the fact that the air commander even was in his arms?

"Weapons Special Officer Ironhide, if you would care to explain just why you are on a berth with an enemy seeker instead of posted at the door as the guard the duty-roster indicates you should be right now, I'd be interested to hear the explanation.", Prowl prompted.

"I hardly think that that's his fault.", Ratchet came to his defense, studying the seekers system readouts carefully after he had taken a quick scan.

"Get away from the prisoner already.", Red Alert demanded and Ironhide actually managed to brace himself against the berth, get of and even a little way away from it, until the seekers chassis began to fairly vibrate with the shock shaking his frame. Quickly and absolutely involuntarily, he stepped back and reached out to clasp the air commanders shoulder joint and his chassis grew still again, a gratified click ringing out of his vocalizer. Shock at his own actions and the seekers reaction was quick to come.

"Whoa! Ya shook 'is plating alright 'Hide!" Probably it was only Jazz bad attempt at a joke that kept him from shaking in disbelieve himself. Instead the mere suggestion that carried along the porsches words, sent him into a vicious snarling fit and the saboteur actually took an involuntary step back.

"IRONHIDE! Calm yourself!", Optimus ordered briskly and the officer in question actually glared back at him, before he reluctantly complied, yet he stayed exactly where he was, hand firmly planted onto the air commanders shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly every now and then.

"Optimus...a word if you would.", Ratchet requested and was quick to be complied as he glared at the rest of the officer staff. Everyone apart from Ratchet, both seekers, the still frozen Weapons Special Officer and their Prime, left the med bay within a matter of moments and that was when the contest for the fiercest glare started. Ratchet had his optics fixed onto Ironhide, Starscream and Thundercracker alternatingly. Ironhide didn't appear to notice the glare and just tried to pierce through the wall with his optics, while Optimus himself glared at both his officers, not happy to be utterly ignored by them.

"So...a word?", he finally prompted after a breem and Ironhide groaned as realization hit him, while Ratchet just assimilated a sigh in annoyance.

"Ah danno...'t was kahnda...s'rang'...", the warrior began uncertainly and then described in detail just how he had felt and thought during his actions. Ratchets wide optics assured him that it couldn't have been a regular merge and Optimus actually had to sit down on the floor, his processor too shocked to sustain the data flow to his primary automotive system.

"So in essence...", the autobots leader began, yet interrupted himself instantly...for the fifth time in a row.

"For Primus sake Optimus, stop acting like a sparkling!", Ratchet snapped and was tempted to use one of his wrenches for a very direct repair to the Prime's cranial unit.

"Yes, they merged right on that berth there and no I am not happy about all my tools on the floor, you can count on that. According to Thundercracker however, nobody could have stopped them and I did not try to restrain them further than verbally because he did state that mechs have been offlined for interrupting a seeker. So yeah, the situation was quite serious but under control!", he stressed the last word, barely believing himself that he had just said that.

"Then it appears as if we will have to wait until he resurfaces from recharge to tell us more about the reasons behind...this.", Optimus made a vague gesture with his hands as if to include the whole room, yet point specifically at a certain seeker and another certain officer.

Waiting really wasn't one of Ironhides strong suits and it showed now. His digits wandered idly over the seekers shoulder, never staying still nor in one place for long and he liked the distraction it brought his processor, he liked it a lot, because it enabled him to acutely feel his spark and the tingle that still surrounded it, as if it was proud because it had accomplished something extraordinary.


	3. realizing

First of all, thanx a lot for the encouragement regarding this pairing and seeing as there might be a happy camper out there if I do what I do, I shall post Hide-lations at the end of the chapter.

All other review-responses would be too long to fit into this A/N, but one thing. Wouldn't it be boring if the whole logic behind the fic had been revealed in chapter two? And do you really think a Decepticon Seeker would give such insightful information to a mere common Autobot and a non-flier at that?...My thought pattern exactly, so the sneaky seeker that TC is, conveniently forgot to mention one or a few things :D

And last chapters fifth reviewer was my lovely twin! Now bow before your new-chappy-bringer! XP

-

Slowly blinking his optics online Thundercracker came back into awareness and started briefly at the unexpected surroundings. Then his memory banks filled him in on the last events before his offlining and his spark filled with dread. What had the autobots done to Starscream?! Almost toppling off of the berth because of the speed with which he forced his chassis to comply, he swirled around and pried at the air commander, shielded behind the red warrior. Thundercracker relaxed and then noted Optimus Prime in the med bay, his processor calculated just why he could be there, but he couldn't think of any other viable reason apart from Starscream.

"Morn'."1, the gruff weapons specialist bellowed and the hand that had stilled at the sudden movement resumed it's strokes over the seekers right wing.

"How are your systems?", the medic queried instantly and Thundercracker decided to give him a full status report so that there might be less fuss. Then he heard the question he had dreaded, knowing it would be asked hadn't done anything to ease his processor about the fact that it was going to be asked and aside from that he would have least expected it to come from the medic.

"What is this spark instinct you mentioned?"

The words rang clear in his audio receptors, yet his optics still dimmed, while his head lowered and he truly had to think about his answer. Finally he had decided just how much to tell them, he knew that an informed medic could only prove as an asset, the warrior would have had to be told anyway, the only one in the knowing that irked him was their Prime. They did not want this to become public knowledge after all...

"Spark instinct happens one orn out of every vorn in a seekers function. It's when the spark is...I believe 'fertile' would be the medical expression.", he was interrupted by a shout of protest from the Prime, demanding that his medic should prove the seeker wrong. Yet Ratchet only nodded for him to continue, entirely disregarding Optimus's protests.

"The spark demands to...find a mate and spark. It doesn't even matter if the seeker in question even likes the mech or not, as proven by Starscreams choice. Usually trine mates would be approached during a seekers orn, yet he could feel the weakened state of my spark subconsciously and avoided me because of that. I have no idea why he didn't go for your medic, seeing as he is far more appealing to the optics...", Thundercracker trailed off, optics roving over the white chassis in appreciation. Ratchet turned away, blushing furiously, yet only Ironhide could tell, because he had known him the longest amongst the Ark-crew, if one didn't count Wheeljack with whom the medic had practically survived sparklinghood and many an explosion.

"Yet we can not change that he didn't. Judging by the process of the merge...I'd guess you did manage.", the blue seeker smiled mysteriously and Ironhide started at the statement, while Optimus only shook his head wearily and Ratchet gasped in wonder.

"Apparently your sparks were either harmonic or compatible enough to brush cores...who would have thought.", he chuckled darkly and Ironhide growled at him instinctively, balling his left hand to a fist as if to ward the seeker off.

"I mean you no harm, neither do I wish you any ill.", Thundercracker quickly assured the red autobot and the growling stopped as if muted by pressing a button.

"I do guess that there is a fair lot more to this and I will need the specifics. Are you willing to share your knowledge on this?", Ratchet asked calmly and the blue seeker reverently nodded in agreement.

"Dahs tha' meah wha' Ah th'nk 't meah's?"2, Ironhide asked with wide optics, pleading with their trusted medic that his processor had gotten this wrong.

"If you processed that you just sparked with a seeker, then you got it right old friend. I doubt that the constructicons could build a suitable chassis for the new sparkling. How do you intend to upgrade his armor once he's fully created? We are at war, you can not leave him unprotected.", Ratchet first emptied a bucket of icy cold water over Ironhide's processor, figuratively, and then he turned back to Thundercracker to work the details out.

"But...", the weapons specialist protested weakly, staring at the air commander in disbelieve.

Optimus ordered him to leave the med bay and stay in his quarters for the next eight joors, forgoing to order him to report to the brig because of the delicate matter of their conversations subject. Staring at his Prime incredulously, Ironhide felt a potent mix of anger and frustration churning through his systems, but he thought better of arguing back and just complied with his superiors order. Shooing a by far too nosy and cheerful Jazz away from him in the rec room, he got himself some energon and buried himself in his quarters, diminishing his private high-grade stock considerably over the next joor and over all just mopping around miserably until he would be summoned to the med bay.

After Optimus had left the med bay, filled with the soft sounds of a wailing Starscream, tossing and turning in his recharge, Thundercracker slowly made his way over to the air commander, steadied by the medics firm grip on one of his arms. Sitting down next to him, the seeker appeared to be sensing him, morphing into a shivering ball of platings that curled close to what little he could reach of the blue seekers chassis.

"He needs a spark right now, a presence that won't leave. Your Prime shouldn't have thrown him out, the oaf was only startled. Now he only managed to make it worse.", Thundercracker complained and lightly stroked over Starscreams wing tips to calm him.

"How so exactly?", Ratchet inquired, worried how the seeker appeared to be shaking with something akin to system shock, the symptoms certainly looked alike...

"Like I said, he needs a spark. Every spark merge produces energy and the sparkling will be feeding off of nothing else but that to grow. But without constant presence of a spark there is no certainty for a merge to take place and no reliable possibility to obtain the needed energy. The sparkling is seeing it's existence threatened by the absence of an older spark, that's what compelled Starscream to act the way he did, while still in recharge.", the blue seeker explained patiently, while assuring Starscream of his presence with firm strokes to the small of his back with his left hand.

"What will happen once he resurfaces from his recharge? The way I've experienced his character so far indicates that he would most likely fall into a destructive rage. You are his wing mate, therefor you know him best. What do you think he'll do?", the medic asked calmly in response to one of Prowls incessant data bursts, which was backed up by Prime.

"I don't know...like I've said...he's never sparked before, but it is not in a seekers nature to resent a sparkling, it simply doesn't fit into our programming. He'll be confused and probably scared at first...maybe you should have him handy nearby for that...Most of the time only the other sparking party is able to calm a seeker down until the first burst of confusion and agitation has passed.", Thundercracker reasoned and Ratchet sent a request to Prowl for Ironhide to be on standby and ready to drag his lazy aft to the med bay the astrosecond he called for him.

Only three joors later the air commanders systems stirred, showing the first signs of rising from recharge. Thundercracker rose from the berth and motioned the medic to stand back before all pit broke loose. Starscream was shrieking like a banshee when he onlined, fists flying around his form in a frenzy that was barely caught by their optics because of the high speeds at which the seekers body moved. Instantly Ratchet data burst Ironhide to get the slag into the med bay and as the doors opened and the warrior hastily complied with his request, Starscream whirled around and his optics caught the red chassis. The charge of his null rays diffused and his dilated optics resumed their regular focus as he recognized who the warrior was and his spark pulsed out a query that was subconsciously answered by Ironhide in less than a nanoclick. The air commander quieted down after that and complied with Ratchets request to lie back down so that he could do a thorough check up, all the while his optics never left the red autobot. Fixed by such an intensive stare, Ironhide felt compelled to step closer and steadily approached the berth as Ratchet took all the scans he had deemed necessary. Thundercracker watched the proceedings warily, on one hand he would be glad if the autobot accepted the new situation, it would certainly make things less complicated, but on the other hand he didn't want the air commander to leave their trine...

Once done with all the scans Ratchet asked a very confused Ironhide to leave again, just as he'd been about to reach out to the seeker soothingly after he had clicked for him longingly, yet both Thundercracker and Ratchet had prevented him from doing so. The blue seeker had only needed to shake his head and the medic had instantly complied, assuming that the air commanders wingmate knew what was best and just what Starscream needed right now. Grumbling lowly Ironhide did as he was told, but he made sure that they noticed that he didn't like it one bit, even though he was more scared than he had ever been in his eons of servitude in this war.

"How do you feel Starscream?", Ratchet asked in a low tone and watched the seeker closely so that he could discern if Ironhide had pulled a wire his scans hadn't noticed.

"Tired.", was the soft reply and both mechs started at the air commanders quiet tones. He sounded strangely compliant and utterly vulnerable, so much so that Ratchet was about to call Ironhide back instantly, but Thundercracker quickly took care of the situation by kneeling in front of his wing mate. One hand was rested on his knee joint and Starscream focused his dazed gaze onto him.

"That's good. Your chassis should be requesting energy after your activities. How does your spark feel?", he skilfully avoided the question he knew should have come next by asking one of his own to distract the other seeker.

"Happy.", Starscream smiled, yet it didn't reach his optics, almost as if his processor was still powering up. The safest option Ratchet came up with was to offer the seeker some energon and observe how it went from there. Summoning a cube of a mild mid-grade he always held at the ready for his patients, a quick glance and nod of Thundercracker affirmed that it had been a good idea. Upon seeing the cube held out to him, Starscreams optics brightened slightly and he carefully took it up to his dermaplates, sipping at it from time to time, while his wingmate continued to reassure him of his presence with little caresses here and there. Slowly he felt the struggle between his spark and his processor dissolve itself as he noticed that he wasn't alone in this, that he was cared for and would be taken care of no matter what. Yet what still irked was one very important mech still missing from his side...

"Where's Ironhide?", he questioned Thundercracker lowly and with a mixture of pain and hope shining in his optics that betrayed his longing and fear of rejection so very thoroughly that his wingmate had to smile at him.

"Close by if you should want to see him.", the blue seeker intoned and saw his air commander nod his head almost violently, intent to convey just how much he wanted to.

"I will fetch him.", Ratchet offered instantly and data burst the warrior. He went outside to wait for him and warn him of Strascreams rather abstract behavior and calculated just what could have caused it. Knowing the elation of creating, he could only assume that it was some kind of overbearing happiness that had engulfed the seekers processor at creating a spark of his own that had led him into such a pliant and mellow state.

Not too long after he had left the med bay behind he found himself in the rec room, as the recipient of a disapproving glare from Prowl. Grand...he had totally forgotten that he was strictly confined to quarters...Yet just then the CMO bliped him over the comm and he happily made his excuses to return to the section of the Ark he had just left. At least it had felt like he had just left it, but his chronometer informed him that he had left the med bay a full joor ago already. Had he been wandering the halls aimlessly for that long? Ratchet awaited him in front of the med bay doors, both seekers securely protected from the rest of their crews questionable care. Why was he mistrusting his own comrades again? An uncertain and troubled expression passed over his faceplates and the medic must have caught it, seeing as he approached him and tried to assure him.

"Don't worry Hide. I've had a long conversation with Thundercracker and he explained a lot.", Ratchet tried to calm the warriors obviously out of control nerves.

"Baht Ah'v got no 'deah 'bout hau ta ca'ah fer a spar'lin'! Blahme Ah'm suah hau th' tw'ns turn' aut wahs mah faul' 's well!"3, the worried mech admitted while pacing in front of the med-bay doors.

-

1 Morning.

2Does that mean what I think it means?

3But I have got no idea about how to care for a sparkling! Blimey I am sure how the twins turned out was my fault as well!


	4. carrying

Thanks a lot for all of your lovely reviews!

I apologize profusely for the long wait, but I am suffering from a definitely gruesome case of writers block. So far I've managed to at least keep writing, even though it's with RP's and not the classical stories. A few short one-shots were the result as well.

I don't have much new really, I just felt sorry for letting you wait so long for another chapter. So now you get another one entailing a merge, hope it lifts your spirits!

Fifth reviewer: Dena Gray, may you feel worshiped!

-

Starscream couldn't bear listening to the gruff voice any longer. A quick look to his wing mate had confirmed his fears. The autobot had just denied the sparkling of any care and for a trine that was all it took to fully adopt the little one and never give it back.

Nodding defeatedly he allowed their wing brother to be called and teleport them out of the autobots med bay, silently crying over the crashed hopes he had had for the future. Starscream had been so certain that the warrior would make him stay to claim his rights, he had certainly appeared like that would have to be his intention in any situation, but maybe Thundercracker was indeed right and a sparking merge didn't reveal all of a mechs personality. It wasn't fair and somehow he felt lost and alone deep down in his spark. But he shouldn't be thinking like this, it was after all selfish to only be considering ones own needs instead of those that mattered now and those weren't his, but the little sparklings now connected to his spark.

They materialized in an empty cave, one of their many hideouts and decided to stay there for the first orn of his carrying. Starscream grew more and more restless in the few hours he wasn't recharging and the three joors he spent recharging daily were as unsatisfying as they could possibly be and soon enough they had to return to the Nemesis after feigning some reports about searching for one or another new energy source failed to satisfy their leader any longer than ten orns in total.

After spending orns of two joor shifts back in their quarters at the Nemesis they were eager to get away from it again and began rejoining battles and licking their wounds in several different hideouts to confuse the other decepticons and keep them away from the carrying seeker. Yet after it became apparent that Megatron had indeed noticed that the air commander on the battle field was a far cry from the real one and only a somewhat random personification by a repainted Skywarp, nineteen orns of Starscreams carrying had passed in that routine and they had to leave.

Once the twentieth orn started Starscream wouln't be safe if he was anywhere but with the seekers of his trine or the mech who had played a part in the sparking merge. Starscream insisted to stay close to the Ark and so they moved continuously, always wary of autobot patrols and by now also expecting to be hunted down on Megatrons orders as well. Sometimes they were still called onto the battle field as back up and they worried each time if they'd return from it at all. Coming up with the plan of claiming that Starscream had been affected by a special disease like seeker rust had taken them an orn in and off itself, but the silver tyrant appeared to have bought it.

Thundercracker and Skywarp had divided Starscreams usual workload fairly between them at the Nemesis so that one of them could keep him company, while the other was on duty and they kept to that even after leaving the ship, seeing as the air commander himself was barely able to do anything other than recharging, tiring them out by multiple merges and trying to run off to the Ark to get the energy his spark craved.

It was astounding how frequently Starscream managed to escape the hold of his trine, taking off in the dark to seek out the red autobot warrior, luring him out into the night with distant spark flares, which only he could feel due to the nature of a slumbering connection left behind by the sparking merge. It was so feeble and unused that it was hard to concentrate on it enough to call for the warrior, but Starscream managed it more often then not. One of those nights was tonight and it had taken him almost a joor to put Skywarp into recharge so that he could leave the cave unsupervised to hunt the real craving of his spark. As he caught the first glimpse of the red chassis, he jumped for him instantly and clang onto the mech for dear life and his sanity, which he feared loosing if he continued to stay so far away from him any longer.

He seldom felt like this and he didn't understand just why he felt like it from time to time, but every now and then he would leave his quarters, sneak out of the Ark and return at dawn with scratched plating and just a messed up paint job in general. Memories of such nights were filled by a certain seeker and the heat of another spark. Ironhide tried not to delve into those memories too deeply, afraid of what he might find... It was almost as if his spark put a lock onto them, because every time he tried to access them, he saw the scared face of the air commander and the optics that held so much pain that he couldn't understand how anyone could deny the oh so needed comfort to him. Yet he himself had been the one to do so and he felt that he could admit to himself, that he was a right aft-head for letting himself be thrown out of the med bay without putting up more of a fight.

It was one of these nights again and he found himself sitting silently at a hillside, not remembering how he had gotten there at all.

The sound of an angry engine caught his attention right before he was attacked from the back. Someone had jumped onto him, catching him mid-turn and pushing him to the ground with the momentum of the sudden movement. Smooth hands ghosted over his chassis hastily, certain in the knowledge of where to tease by pushing or stroking just right. Soon wires were clasped in his digits securely, even though Ironhide couldn't remember moving his hands at all. Desperate clicks and whiny sobs reached his audio receptors as he was hit by a spark flare so strong it was almost encompassing his whole being, lulling him in and pulling him forwards all at the same time. Wings in his hands told him all his processor needed to know.

"Please...please...." The words were whispered over and over again, more insistent each time.

It wouldn't even have taken Starscreams begging, while glossa and mandibles deftly worked the warriors neck joint. Rolling them over he seized the air commanders cockpit into his right hand, closely feeling the burning heat flowing off of it in waves. The seeker screamed in a mixture of agony and desire, tugging him closer urgently. Not about to deny Starscream anything right then was what prompted him to release the hold he'd had on his chestplates since the first flare of the seekers spark. While his own chestplates parted he saw the air commanders cockpit splitting in half. The lower part gently sank down into the seekers chassis, while the upper one readily retracted, turning to the side and almost cradling the seekers spark casing in a soft dark orange hue, contrasting it nicely against the other internal systems. Almost as soon as the cockpit glass had started settling into the retracted position, Starscreams spark casing had opened, revealing the flaring and trashing spark inside. Lowering his torso Ironhide felt their sparks flaring as one after a bare astrosecond, it was incredible how fast Starscreams spark had adjusted to his pulse and frequency. Yet the air commander still wasn't happy with him, sharp digits scratched all over his back, almost tugging the plating at his seams apart only to reach more of him. Wires so deep in his chassis that he had never felt another touch them had him screaming as well and he finally opened his spark casing with both sensitive platings still resting close, rubbing at each other with each movement. Pushing down on the seeker with his weight, he pressed their sparks together tightly. Starscream moaned in happiness at his actions, yet wailed at the slow progress of their merge only to have his sounds devoured right off of his dermaplates.

Urging his spark to merge slowly took a lot of restraint on Ironhides part, but he did it anyway, because he wanted to enjoy it. It wasn't often that the seeker came to him for these special merges in which he always felt energy coursing throughout all of his systems right before the anticipation of the merge drove him from his quarters. These merges were important for them both and most of all the growing sparkling as Ratchet had explained to him, right before they had found the med bay to be empty... He may have run from him, but needed the energy and Ironhide never held any of it back once they were merging, always intending to give him as much as the seeker needed to last another orn or two, even though it saddened him to let him go, knowing he wouldn't return before he craved more.

Moving his hands over the wings in languid, wide sweeps had the seeker calming down as much as he could. Arching into the caresses, his spark flaring a little less aggressively, yet still demanding more. Starscream kissed back hungrily, licking at his mandibles and stroking their glossas together, while twirling his digits around multiple wires at once, only to reach out to sensor nodes and main boards previously hidden by them. Ironhide noticed the seekers heated chassis reaching critical limits at multiple places and decided to take the pace up, complying with the demands of his own spark. Gently their cores met and the instant harmony that swamped through them pushed them into the total bliss of overload almost instantly.

Hours later Ironhide onlined to an empty spot of flattened grass next to himself and surprisingly enough it was still warm as he laid his hand on it. Starscream couldn't have been gone long he concluded and looked around himself in search for the seeker.

He only wanted to talk to him damn it! Why did he always run from him? Did he truly think that all the transmissions had been supposed to be threats when Ironhide had only wanted to talk to him? Why didn't he respond to a single one of them? Why did Megatron claim that the air commander wasn't even staying at the Nemesis anymore that one time he had gotten Optimus to question the silver mech on the seekers whereabouts?

Low bickering reached his audios and shortly afterwards two engines sounded as if they were nearly overstraining themselves. Jumping to his feet the warrior programming had him approach the sounds stealthily, no matter how hard his spark fought to rush him. It was a little way down the hill and through the forest to a small clearing, which he followed, only a few hundred yards in total, yet it felt more like a distance far closer to that between earth and Cybertron, through which Ironhide felt himself grow concerned, worried and angry all at the same time. Breaking through the last line of trees, all care forgotten, he spotted Starscream struggling against his wing-mates, who were hovering in mid-air, their thrusters turned up to full capacity, yet still not managing to drag the air commander into the air with them.

"Help! Help me! Save-" Was all Starscream managed before screeching in denial at the fact that his own feet had just left the ground, his wingmates were slowly succeeding in dragging him away. Reacting instantly Ironhide tackled Starscream to the ground, throwing Thundercracker and Skywarp off balance. He cradled the scared and by now crying seeker, who was clicking like a sparkling in need of protection, to his chestplates and felt him plastering his chassis into his side, burrowing his head against his left shoulder. Luckily that left the warriors right hand free and he seized the riffle he had summoned from sub-space, insistently drawing the shaking Starscream closer with his left arm.

A barrel pointing directly at the blue seekers faceplate, had him raising his hands in surrender, with a frown on his features.

"Why are you protecting him? We're still enemies." Thundercracker reminded him and Ironhide didn't even need to think before he snarled back, clutching the air commander he feared to loose even tighter.

"Cahn' ya tell 'e's sca'ed?!"(1) He questioned indignantly and was surprised by the response that evoked.

"He's been far worse at your questionable 'care'!" The blue seeker shouted back, enraged beyond reason, which was screaming for attention within his processor.

"Whacha meahn w'th tha'?!"(2) Ironhide growled back right before he saw Thundercracker smirk. Realizing his mistake didn't do him any good as he felt Skywarps hand on the back of his unprotected neck joint, pressing onto a button that was used by medics to offline heavily damaged patients for treatment.

He onlined in the med bay, with a bickering and cranky medic as his only companion. Apparently the twins had found him on patrol, lying in a forest not far from their regular routes...alone. Once more he had failed to see reason and talk to the air commander before his spark took over at his chassis sensory input, created by being so readily jumped.

Starscream was furious with his trine as they managed to hurl him home or to what served as their temporary home that orn. They had never caught him sneaking out before and he knew that it would become only more difficult from now on. Time passed faster than Starscream had ever experienced it and the fact that Megatron hadn't tried to force them back was astounding. And even though he was still suspicious of them, as Starscream started to appear in battles as himself once more, after his thirtieths orn had passed, transmissions with the Nemesis became easier and less strained. They settled into another routine and twelve more orns went by relatively without incident and while Megatron had called them back to the Nemesis repeatedly, they still didn't comply. Starscream wasn't affecting others anymore, but that didn't mean that others wouldn't notice his changed state if they encountered him out of battle, so they kept their distance.

-

(1) = Can't you tell he is scared?!

(2) = What do you mean with that?!


	5. creating

Dammit, I honestly have no idea why I didn't update this...no really, the chap's not long and has been finished since before the fifth review...whoops? Thank you very much for all the positive feedback, it gave me new drive to continue the story!

Well, no smexings this time, but we'll get to the 'birth' so that's something.

Fifth Reviewer: Thornwitch! (ring ring ring) In answer to your question I would take a future scene and demote it of it's intended attention if I answered now. Hope you can hold on and wait for it.

But then what they had been waiting for happened and they were called to assist in a vicious battle against the autobots. Somehow the other decepticons had managed to split the autobots up into smaller groups and they wondered why they had been called at all, as Megatron swirled around lightening fast and fired his fusion cannon directly at Starscreams cockpit. Gasping in pain and trying to contain the damage at least somewhat with his hands, the air commander fell down onto his knee joints while his wing mates fired away at the silver mech. Momentarily startled by the responding fire from his own troops Megatron forgot to defend himself and was hit in the shoulder. The force of the impact with the seekers lasers from such closeness knocked him off balance and in the time it took him to get back up Thundercracker had managed to drag Starscream into the shadow of an alcove, where Skywarp had managed to teleport them in absolute disregard of his own low energy levels before taking up a protective stance in front of them.

Shielding the screaming air commander as best as they could, they received unexpected help as a big white shuttle touched down before them and took up firing at any approaching mech. Thundercracker scanned the sky for unlikely enemies before falling back to comfort the hurt seeker and investigate the damage done. He was wild with rage as he realized that the bastard had tried to shoot at the sparkling, but how had he gained knowledge about him in the first place? Fortunately he was well protected and undamaged, yet highly upset. Starscream wasn't fairing any better, he was as distressed as he could become, multiple circuits had been hit and were either blown or frozen up and his processor had no idea how to handle the quite extensive damage. Withering on the ground, unable to do more than scream in pain, he was a sparkbreaking sight and Thundercracker was no medic, he couldn't do a single thing to help his air commander. Rejoining the battle he charged directly at the silver mech, only to be engaged by Soundwave instead.

By now it was seekers against everyone, the battle had dipped and Superion was holding Devastator back from stomping Starscream into the ground, no matter their shielding. Even the coneheads had decided to stand against the combaticons and they were holding their own well. Most Autobots had no idea anymore what this was all about, unsure as to whom they should fight against, until Optimus arrived with the twins, seeing as they had been driven away the furthest by their enemy. He instantly ordered all Autobots to fight any non-flier decepticons and after Megatron realized the considerable overweight of his enemies power and force, now that their air devision had turned against him, called a retreat that was followed immediately.

Everything began to quiet down after that, everything but the agonized cries of the decepticons air commander. A protective barrier of fliers stood between the screaming mech and them as Prowl began to lecture the aerial bots for their careless actions. Yet his words remained unprocessed and as he took a step forward to reinforce his authority, he found himself facing one barrel after another and froze.

Unbelieving that their creations would just turn against them without a viable reason Ratchet stepped up behind the 2IC and laid a restraining hand onto his shoulder to signal him to calm down and stay quiet. That action actually prompted all fliers to lower their weapons again. Red Alert went off about security and everybody but the fliers sighed in annoyance. Optimus tried to reason against the solid wall of mechs, but only got a growled word out of Skyfire and the way that 'threat' had sounded indicated that he'd meant them with it.

Again the medics spark clenched at the agony he could hear in the seekers voice which he was forced to endure due to only Primus knew what and in a processor glitch he stepped forward to argue for passage.

"Will you let me treat him?", he asked them outright, fixing Skywarp with his his glare, seeing as he was the next highest ranking air officer of the decepticons with Starscream and Thundercracker hidden behind that barrier and assumed he was probably in charge now. None of the weapons were pointed at him and Ramjet and Silver Bolt even stepped a little to the side to indicate an open passage for him, yet him only as he quickly realized, because neither Prowl nor Optimus were permitted to follow him.

"You're a medic.", was Skywarps simple explanation to that as he sent him a questioning look.

Walking to the fliers and through their barrier warily Ratchet gasped at the air commanders state. Starscream was in a by far worse condition than Thundercracker had been almost two years ago. All he would be able to do was patch the leaks and rebuild the seekers cockpit completely by the ruined looks of it. Rushing forward he motioned for Thundercracker to restrain the seeker at least somewhat, seeing as he couldn't do anything to help him with the way he was twisting and turning on the ground.

"Primus! That's a spark seizure!", all curses fled his mind and he set to work immediately.

"Don wanna...", was all the seeker managed to vocalize like a mantra after his pain receptors had been offlined.

"You need to let him go.", Thundercracker urged the air commander as soon as he appeared somewhat stable and processing what they were saying. Instantly the mantra became louder and more properly pronounced, as if this was an ongoing argument. Ratchet queried in icy notes why the blue flier was upsetting his patient then, because more stress was certainly the last the seekers spark needed right now.

"Because he needs to let the sparkling go. Megatrons shot roused him from his slumber and he wants out...now! Yet Starscream is holding him back, because he doesn't think he's ready, he is still a few orns too young after all. His spark is overstraining itself with keeping the sparkling contained and that's what's causing the seizure. He won't be able to endure this much longer before he offlines and in his current state the sparkling still needs the connection to him and would share his fate should his spark extinguish.", he explained in low tones and Ratchet was shocked at the revelations.

"He's holding him back? How can he even do that?", the medic exclaimed and forced his tired and energon covered joints and digits to work even faster in closing off the seekers leakages.

"Don wanna...help...Hide help!", Starscream bucked up against all their efforts to hold him down and Thundercracker snarled at him angrily.

"Why do you even think he'd help you? Your still his enemy, don't forget that! Release the sparkling Starscream! Maybe he's not as ready as we'd like him to be, but ready enough to sustain function. Release him!", he ordered and Starscream was by now far too weak to argue any longer, feeling his spark flicker already.

"...Hide...care?", he sobbed desperately and as Ratchet vowed that the warrior did care, while he didn't even get far enough in his statement to clarify who or what it was Ironhide cared about, Starscream finally released the few catches that had still held strong on his mostly shattered cockpit and a tiny sparkling clambered out of it quickly, almost unbelieving of the newly gained freedom. Yet as quick as the Sparkling had been to leave the confines of the restraining cockpit he'd grown in, he scurried up to the seekers faceplates and hugged his neck joint tightly, as if sensing his dropping energy levels. A soft spark pulse assured the little frame quickly and a hand covered in Starscreams own energon gently held the sparkling in place, while he felt his systems shutting him down into an emergency stasis, which the medic must have started now that it was safe, seeing as the stasis could no longer affect the sparkling.


End file.
